Sticky this please... not for my post, but for all the posts to follow showing how FUCKING STUPID the TSA is. This is what you get when you mix minimum wage security guard rejects with a taste of power, and toss in a good dose of governmental shittery.

And we keep growing this department every year. AND they want to unionize.

This is one reason why security guards and, often cops, worry me so much. You're giving a lot of power to someone with such little pay and, likely, on the lower end of the education tier - which can lead to power complexes to feel equal or better than other members of society.

That's only the beginning... They're a bunch of morons. At least cops tend to have pretty good checks and balances, but these idiots are effectively unmonitored and allowed to do whatever they please. It's a joke, and let's face it, any terrorist with an IQ above freezing could sail through their checks unmolested while they're focusing on that 4 year old...

Oh, on the nipple ring thing: The TSA officially defends its screeners saying they "properly followed procedures". What sort of fuckwit thinks a woman is going to blow up a plane with her nipple ring, and how much more of a moron do you have to be to insist that it's correct procedure to remove it?

Simple - the politics of fear. No politician is going to take any action against an organization or program that is "preventing an attack on Americans" because they'll be singled out the next inevitable time an attack occurs. Where's the political payback for axing or reworking the TSA? Where do you think the finger pointing would have been if Obama (or Bush) had decimated the TSA prior to Capt. Underpants' failed attempt?

My question was more rhetorical.
There was finger pointing regardless. It is fear and I wish there was a way to rework or manipulate that fear into being aware of and hating something that does nothing. It would take a heck of campaign to redirect the fear machine, though.

As an aside, this is why I happily supported Cazic in EQ. Fear is a very powerful political manipulator.

NOVEMBER 2--The Transportation Security Administration worker who earlier this year was canned for falsely claiming to have discovered cocaine in the luggage of travelers was a bomb appraisal officer who was supposed to be evaluating new screening equipment at the time he was pranking his unsuspecting targets, records show.

The obvious answer is biometrics. Frequent travellers submit biometric data (retina scan would suffice, no one is going to walk up with a fake eyeball) and pass through normal security with a bag check and metal scan. This pat-down shit is ridiculous. I wonder if I can put some tin foil on my ass that says "Fuck you Napolitano" and have it show up in the backscatter image....

Correction Mr. President, I DID build this, and please give Lurker a hug, we wouldn't want to damage his self-esteem.